Study: Sunlight might be good for your blood pressure

5:11 PM,
Jan. 31, 2014

Written by

Steven Reinberg
HealthDay

Sunlight is known to lower blood pressure, but now a team of British researchers has figured out why.

What they found is that nitric oxide stored in the top layers of the skin reacts to sunlight and causes blood vessels to widen as the oxide moves into the bloodstream. That, in turn, lowers blood pressure.

"This is an unexpected finding, in that the skin has not been considered to be involved in blood pressure regulation," said lead researcher Martin Feelisch, a professor of experimental medicine and integrative biology at the University of Southampton. ...